Chris Matthews: Obama Should Take 'Lesson' from Holder, Who 'Showed How You Lead In This Country'

Filling in for Andrea Mitchell during MSNBC's 12 p.m. ET hour on Friday, Hardball host Chris Matthews hit President Obama from the left while praising Attorney General Eric Holder's visit to Ferguson, Missouri: "...it may be a lesson for the President, too, and I'm not usually a critic of him. But I have to say that I thought that in a very positive way Eric holder showed how you lead in this country. And a big part of leading is showing up." [Listen to the audio [1]]

The comment was prompted by correspondent Craig Melvin reporting from the community: "Attorney General Eric Holder being here earlier this week...that was a big deal for a lot of people because a lot of people on the ground here do not have a great deal of faith in the local jurisdiction but they do have a fair amount of faith in the administration."

On Wednesday, Matthews expressed his disappointment [2] in Obama when it came to the President's reaction to journalist James Foley being beheaded by ISIS terrorists.

Here is a transcript of the August 22 exchange with Melvin:

12:19 PM ET

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CRAIG MELVIN: Attorney General Eric Holder being here [in Ferguson, Missouri] earlier this week, Chris Matthews, that was a big deal for a lot of people because a lot of people on the ground here do not have a great deal of faith in the local jurisdiction but they do have a fair amount of faith in the administration.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Yeah, I think it was – it may be a lesson for the President, too, and I'm not usually a critic of him. But I have to say that I thought that in a very positive way Eric holder showed how you lead in this country. And a big part of leading is showing up. Anyway, NBC's Craig Melvin, thank you. You don't have to editorialize, I just did.

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